Four days after Typhoon Haiyan devastated parts of the Philippines, serious health needs ranging from the treatment of fractures and electrical burns to the birth of an estimated 12,000 babies over the next few weeks continue to overwhelm the worst-hit areas.

Medical supplies are failing to reach people and the massive infrastructure damage is making it difficult to even “get in to assess the situation,” said Dr. Richard Brennan, emergency director with the World Health Organization.

“In terms of scale and complexity, it’s certainly amongst the most severe (of disasters) that I’ve ever dealt with,” said Brennan, who was reached by phone in London, England.

“The fact that this disaster is spread over a lot of different islands — with major destruction to the infrastructure essentially limiting access — makes this very, very complex.”

The official death toll rose to 1,774 on Tuesday, although authorities expect that number to grow in the coming days. An estimated 11 million people have been affected across a large swath of the archipelago nation, with many of them now homeless.

International responders are starting to arrive in the country now, however, including a Canadian reconnaissance team. The
Canadian team
will speak with local officials and determine how the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) — currently on standby in Hawaii — can best provide military help.

The Canadian Red Cross also has a delegate due to arrive on Wednesday and Médecins Sans Frontières has 23 people already on the ground, with another 80 to 85 on the way, said Stephen Cornish, executive director of MSF Canada.

But getting people and
medical supplies
to the worst disaster zones has been a “logistical nightmare,” according to Cornish.

One day after Haiyan hit, an MSF team was already in Cebu Island, ready to fly to Tacloban, one of the hardest-hit cities. By Tuesday night, however, their airplane was still on the tarmac.

“It’s very frustrating because our teams are present, they’ve been present since Saturday,” Cornish said on Tuesday from Amsterdam. “We were hoping to have a team fly into Tacloban today but there have been torrential rains overnight and into today.”

Another MSF spokesperson told the Associated Press that only military planes were currently allowed to land at Tacloban’s only airport, where thousands of typhoon victims have been camping out. Many ran onto the tarmac as planes arrived, though most could not get on board.

“We need help. Nothing is happening,” said 81-year-old Aristone Balute, her clothes soaked from the rain and tears streaming down her face. “We haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon.”

Doctors in Tacloban said they were desperate for medicine and at a makeshift clinic at the airport, medics said they had treated around 1,000 people for cuts, bruises, lacerations and deep wounds.

“It’s overwhelming,” said Air Force Capt. Antonio Tamayo. “We need more medicine. We cannot give anti-tetanus vaccine shots because we have none.”

A list of victims posted online by the Philippines’ National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council also conveys what doctors have been dealing with: a 14-year-old boy who suffered an electrical burn on the neck; a nine-year-old boy hit by a fallen tree; a 64-year-old who is paralyzed on the left side of his body after being trapped under his collapsed house. The list goes on.

The longer survivors go without access to clean water, food, shelter and medical help, the greater chance of disease breaking out and people dying from wounds sustained in the storm.

The Philippines also has a high prevalence of HIV and malnutrition, noted Catherine Marquis with the Canadian Red Cross — those people will be particularly vulnerable. Marquis anticipates “mental health and psychosocial needs for the population” as well and said the Red Cross will be providing psychosocial support in addition to doctors, nurses and midwives.